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THE ART ftf ETHICS 
OF DRESS 




dl» BlU 



Styles in good taste for reception or calling. "Every 
one who adds beauty of raiment to goodness of soul 
makes goodness doubly dear." 



THE ART & ETHICS 

OF DRESS -As related to 
Efficiency and Economy 
By Eva Olney Farnsworth 

Illustrations by Audley B. Wells 




Paul Elder & Company 
Publishers • San Francisco 



Copyright, 1915 

Paid Elder & Company 

San Francisco 



©GU406319 

M 15 /9IJ. 



TO MY NIECE MAUDE, WHOSE 
SYMPATHY HAS MADE THIS 
WORK POSSIBLE, AND TO ALL 
WOMEN WHO REGARD CARE OF 
THE BODY EVEN TO THE DETAILS 
OF DRESS A SACRED DUTY 



CONTENTS 

Foreword xi 

Fitness 3 

Beauty 13 

Ethics 41 

The Patricia Garment ....51 



[v] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Styles in Good Taste for Reception or Calling. 
"Everyone who adds beauty of raiment to good- 
ness of soul makes goodness doubly dear " . . 

Frontispiece 

Effect of high heels : The body thrown forward to 
maintain equilibrium makes normal breathing 
impossible, because the muscles which expand 
the apexes of lungs are not in position to exert 
their full power 4 

"Grace of motion is a finer quality than faultless 
proportions. A marble statue may be exquisite 
in form, but cannot be compared to an elastic, 
spirited woman, whose every gesture indicates 
soul" 6 

Masculine outline widest at shoulders, torso taper- 
ing. "One must learn the native qualities of 
beauty of the human form before it can be fully 
recognized" 8 

Characteristic outline preserved in clothing himself. 
"The use of the intellect has a powerful effect 
upon the moulding and chiseling of the features" io 

Any lining material is suitable for a gown form. 
The so-called waist line should be more or less 
ignored in clothing for the greater beauty of the 
whole line x 4 

Summer gowns that are always beautiful. "Half 
an artist's life is spent in learning what to look 
for, how to distinguish the essential, the char- 
acteristic, and how to eliminate the rest" . . 16 

For the short, stout woman, waists and belts must 
be modeled with point back and front, and the 
lines of ornament should flow downward . . 24 

Nothing is so glaring as the latest novelty. Ear- 
rings are a relic of barbarism and chains that 
serve no purpose should be avoided .... 30 



[VII] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

To be conspicuously elegant presupposes a culti- 
vated body, but the secret of economy and art in 
dress lies in the selection of suitable materials, 
simple designs and conservative fashions . . 34 

The shoulders are made to appear broader than the 
hips; the waist, which should be 96.5 per cent 
of the height, is out of proportion 42 

The charm of a woman's form is in the long curve 
from armpit to ankle. The depression at the 
so-called waist line is the meeting of two large 

muscles .. 

44 

The Patricia Garment « 



[ viii ] 




4 THE ANATOMY OF 

THE HUMAN BODY IS A SUBLIME 

HYMN IN HONOR OF THE 

DEITY." GALEN 



FOREWORD 

The need of education on the subject of 
dress is evident to every conscientious 
teacher of physical culture. 

Some years ago under the inspiration 
of a class of intelligent women I under- 
took to solve the problem of undercloth- 
ing for women; to find or design under- 
garments that would allow freedom while 
giving the necessary support and avoid- 
ing the slouchy, bulky aspect so objection- 
able to those who care for personal ap- 
pearance. 

Investigating garments already on the 
market designed with some regard for 
health, I found them either clumsy or 
impracticable because too difficult for 
home manufacture or too expensive when 
made to order; others advertised as 
health garments proved a delusion and 
snare. 

This led me into researches and courses 
of study and reading which have been 
altogether delightful while they have re- 
vealed the fact that I was not the only 
"dreamer of dreams* about what ought 

[XI] 



FOREWORD 

to be in the way of clothing for women 
and that if women are not yet ready to 
accept the teaching of the most sincere 
investigators along the various lines of 
medicine, art and psychology, I shall not 
be the first to retire disappointed. 

The universal acceptance of an under- 
garment constructed to modify rather 
than clothe the feminine form is a menace 
to the race, especially when placed upon 
the young. Youth is the period when the 
greatest care should be exercised in order 
that the girl reach maturity with normal 
contour of the body and sound health. 

The permanent adoption of a mode of 
dressing that is genuinely artistic depends 
upon woman's physical education. She 
must know what it means to stand erect 
without conscious effort. She must un- 
derstand that erect carriage of the body 
is essential to elegance and grace of move- 
ment; that the appearance of height is 
largely a matter of suggestion rather than 
inches; that a slouchy appearance may 
be remedied by exercise of the muscles; 
that stiffness conceals the subtle lines of 
[XII] 



FOREWORD 

the middle torso. She must learn that 
efficiency in the use of the voice depends 
upon absolute freedom for the muscles 
of respiration and that any manner or 
method of clothing that handicaps the 
respiratory power undermines the entire 
system. 

There is a tendency to overlook the 
value of the individual solution of the 
problems of life and yet the successful in- 
dividual solution is perhaps the most val- 
uable and fundamental contribution a 
man or woman can make. 

It is because I have solved the problem 
for myself that I have the courage to 
stand as an exponent of sane and sensible 
clothing of the body. I sincerely believe 
that educated women are ready and eager 
to guard and guide their daughters into 
ways of life that will enable them to get 
the most out of it and to be of real service 
to others. 

It would be impossible to mention every 
source of information, but leaders in the 
various lines of endeavor are the follow- 
ing. 

[XIII] 



FOREWORD 

Foremost among American physicians 
acknowledgment is due Dr. J. H. Kel- 
l°gg> Superintendent of the Battle Creek 
Sanitarium, for facts concerning the nor- 
mal contour of the human figure and the 
disastrous effects of modern methods of 
clothing the body. Acknowledgment is 
also due Dr. Robert L. Dickinson of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

For the comprehensive interpretation 
of the laws of art and for the idea that 
"Expression is necessary to evolution" 
and that freedom of muscles through 
proper clothing is an aid to perfect ex- 
pression, I am indebted to the late Dr. 
Charles Wesley Emerson, founder of the 
Emerson College of Oratory, the full 
appreciation of whose services to human- 
ity can never be realized save by those 
who came directly under his personal 
influence. 

Arthur Wesley Dow, Professor of Fine 
Arts, Columbia University, and Birge 
Harrison, author of Landscape Painting, 
have helped me to a finer discrimination 
in what pertains to sincerity in art. 
[XIV] 



FOREWORD 

Acknowledgment is due the late Wil- 
liam James for ideas concerning the 
psychology of fashion as given in his in- 
spirational "Talks to Teachers" 

For critical analysis on the status and 
opportunities of the modern woman, I 
am indebted to Ida Tarbell, author of 
"The Business of Being a Woman" and 
Ellen Richards, author of "The Woman 
Who Spends." 

For suggestions in the application of 
the laws of art to dress, acknowledgment 
is due L. Higgins, London, Eng.; also to 
Richard Hall, a portrait painter of re- 
nown, of whom Harper Brothers say: 
"Mr. Hall is eminently well qualified to 
express himself as to what constitutes 
good taste in dress," and to M. Worth, of 
whom the same publishers say: "He is 
the greatest living authority on dress" 

Many thanks are due Harper Brothers 
for the privilege of quoting from articles 
published by them. 

Expert advice along the lines of color, 
symmetry of design and simplicity in 
dress is the common property of those 

[XV] 



FOREWORD 

who can pay for it. If the opinions of the 
high authorities brought together in this 
volume offer a basis for criticism and en- 
able those who cannot otherwise avail 
themselves of the best, to eschew bad fash- 
ions and so assist in creating a demand for 
rational clothing, the mission of this book 
will have been fulfilled. 

Eva Olney Farnsworth, 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
December the first, 

NlNETEEN-FOURTEEN 



[XVI] 



FITNESS 

Dress yourselves beautifully — not 
finely, unless on occasion; but then 
very finely and beautifully, too. 
Also, you are to dress as many 
other people as you can; and to 
teach them how to dress, if they 
don y t know; and to consider every 
ill-dressed woman or child whom 
you see anywhere, as a personal 
disgrace; and to get at them, 
somehow, until everybody is as 
beautifully dressed as birds. — John 

RUSKIN. 



FITNESS 

THE instinct for clothes has more 
than once had the upper hand 
of us. So dangerous to the 
health, prosperity and serious- 
ness of the people has its tyranny been 
that laws have again and again been 
passed to check it; punishments have been 
devised to frighten men from indulging 
it; while whole classes have been put into 
dull and formless costumes to crucify it. 

Man gradually and in the main has 
conquered his passion for ornament. To- 
day in all the leading nations of the world 
he clothes rather than arrays himself. 
Previous to 1815 a certain class of men 
dressed with all the extravagance and 
frivolity of the most abandoned fashion 
devotee of womankind. But woman has 
not conquered the instinct for ornament. 
She still allows it to control her and often 
to her own great detriment. Such undue 
proportions has the matter taken in the 
American woman's life that one is some- 
times inclined to wonder if it is not the 
real "woman question." 

[3] 



FITNESS 

Women should occupy themselves seri- 
ously with dress. They should regard it 
as an art as legitimate as any other. We 
are deservedly criticised for not master- 
ing the art, for the entirely dispropor- 
tionate amount of attention which we give 
the subject and in our disregard of sound 
principles. 

The true attack on the tyranny and cor- 
ruption of clothes lies in the establishment 
of principles. These principles are brief- 
ly those of fitness, beauty and ethics. 
When a woman once grasps the idea of 
fitness, the vagaries of style are as dis- 
tasteful as poor drawing to the artist or 
as lying is to the truthful. 

Since clothing is needed first of all for 
warmth or protection from the elements, 
it should impede as little as possible free 
and graceful movements of the limbs. It 
is evident that to meet its requirements it 
should be as light as possible. All gar- 
ments that are heavy cause the wearer in- 
convenience through having to drag 
about a weight. The clothing for warmth 
should be distributed evenly; it should 

[4] 




Effect of high heels: The body thrown forward to 
maintain equilibrium makes normal breathing impos- 
sible, because the muscles which expand the apexes 
of lungs are not in position to exert their full power. 



FITNESS 

be sufficiently loose to allow every muscle 
free play. For this reason all garments 
that restrict or bind are unfit, especially 
for the young. 

Bonnets and hats are intended to pro- 
tect the head, either from the cold or wet 
or the too direct rays of the sun. When 
worn on the back of the neck, leaving the 
front of the head exposed, or made into 
a windsail, they are inartistic because 
totally unfit for their purpose. 

Nature has constructed the feet in the 
way that renders them most perfectly fit- 
ted to the work they have to perform. 
Shoes and boots are intended to cover and 
protect them, but not to improve nature 
by contorting the foot into a wholly dif- 
ferent shape, and squeezing it into a 
mould. When this is done the foot be- 
comes deformed and unsuited to the pur- 
pose for which it was made. 

Through the wearing of high heels the 
ankles become thickened because the poise 
of the body is destroyed and ugliness and 
deformity is the result. If the foot is of 
good proportions and naturally well made 

[5] 



FITNESS 

it cannot be improved by throwing the 

body off its balance and disfiguring its 

proportions. 

Materials chosen must always be those 
best fitted for the needs of the wearer, the 
climate, the time of the year and, above 
all, they must be suitable for the purpose 
they are intended to fulfill. Diaphanous 
clothing, even if it extend no farther than 
the waist, is improper for street wear or 
for business, as are sleeves above the el- 
bow and extremely low necks. A dress 
sufficiently low to show the throat and 
afford comfort, with sleeves short enough 
to be easily kept clean is desirable. In 
hot weather one should wear as little 
clothing as is consistent with good taste. 

To dress artistically one must consider 
the purpose for which the dress is re- 
quired. If for walking, climbing, driv- 
ing, riding, yachting or any active outdoor 
exercise, it needs to be light, sufficiently 
warm and strong. In construction, it 
must be as simple as possible and leave the 
limbs unimpeded in action and have no 
useless extraneous ornament. 
[6] 




"Grace of motion is a hner quality than faultless 
proportions. A marble statue may be exquisite in 
form but cannot be compared to an elastic, spirited 
woman, whose every gesture indicates soul." 



FITNESS 

The hat should cover the head, and if 
for rough wear or travel, should be one 
which obviously will not become drag- 
gled and spoiled by wet. Ostrich feathers 
or plush are wholly unfit for this kind of 
use. 

It is conceded, I think, that there is in 
all women an instinctive perception of 
beauty and a longing for it, and that this 
instinct may be gratified and improved 
without any exercise of the reasoning 
power. The unconscious education of the 
artistic perception by familiarity with 
things that are in good taste has developed 
in the highest type of the American 
woman a power of discrimination that is 
by no means general. The improved 
taste, such as it is, however, is more a 
fashion than a considered conclusion, and 
women of culture and knowledge of art 
principles are often called upon to fight 
the good fight of taste against trade. 

There are people strongly imbued with 
the idea that good taste is a special reve- 
lation from heaven, but the mere feeling 
of individuals, likely to be confused by a 

f7] 



FITNESS 

too great familiarity with the prevailing 
fashions, which for a time usurp the place 
of true taste, is not to be depended upon 
unless it can show a reason for the faith 
which it has engendered. 

There is an increasingly large class of 
women who wish to dress in a reasonable, 
common-sense style not dependent on the 
vagaries of fashion-makers, who are usu- 
ally in search of novelty. They are even 
willing to be a little different if the dif- 
ference is not too conspicuous, but too 
often they succeed only in being grotesque. 
Constructive art requires first of all 
fitness to purpose; second, due proportion 
and relation of the parts to the whole; 
third, grace or proper combination of the 
straight and curved line. A careful study 
of the historical costumes of all times and 
countries will quickly show us that those 
which all agree at this distance of time 
in calling beautiful are those which con- 
form to the rules of art. If a hundred 
people of educated taste were to choose 
from a collection of ancient costumes 
those which appealed to them as most 
[8] 



Masculine outline widest at shoulders, torso tapering. 
"One must learn the native qualities of beauty of the 
human form before it can be fully recognized." 



FITNESS 

beautiful, their lists would to a great ex- 
tent duplicate each other, because each 
would follow the certain and essential 
laws of construction. Good construction 
presupposes fitness, proportion and grace. 

Dress, like architecture, is based upon 
practical requirements and can only be 
true and logical and therefore artistic 
when it meets these requirements. The 
external arrangements and design should 
arise out of the figure and indicate its 
requirements. Nothing can be artistic 
that impedes the free and graceful action 
of the limbs. 

The perfect masculine outline shows 
narrow hips and broad shoulders. This 
is as apparent in childhood as in maturity. 
Fashion-makers of men's garments would 
not risk business success by offering men 
clothing that would handicap them in any 
vocation, and this characteristic outline is 
preserved. Only at home does the gentle- 
man indulge in color, velvet, silk or cash- 
mere. When he appears in public he may 
aim at distinction only by the superior cut 
of his garments. What the male attire 

[9] 



FITNESS 

thus loses in striking effect it gains in tone. 
Man's sagacity in matters of dress has en- 
abled him to render inestimable service to 
humanity. 



[IO] 




Characteristic outline preserved in clothing himself. 
"The use of the intellect has a powerful effect upon 
the moulding and chiseling of the features." 



BEAUTY 

The beauty which is to endure must 
be sane and wholesome because the 
human race is sound at heart and 
can be counted upon in the long 
run to reject anything which is 
essentially unhealthy or decadent. — 
Birge Harrison. 

Beauty is the divine ideal. All 
schools of artists are but spelling it 
out and every great artist is a flash 
of God on this dull world of ours. 
— Lyman Abbot. 



BEAUTY 

BEAUTY of form is produced by 
lines growing out one from an- 
other in gradual undulations. 
There must be no excrescence; 
nothing could be removed and leave the 
form equally good or better. All junc- 
tions of curved lines with curved or of 
curved lines with straight ones should be 
tangential to each other and the straight, 
the inclined and the curved should be 
properly balanced. We might say, that 
that dress must always be best and most 
beautiful which follows the lines of the 
human figure, for this is, when perfectly 
proportioned, the most beautiful com- 
bination of lines and curves known. 

A woman's form when perfect cannot 
be improved by art; therefore the dress 
which allows its natural proportions to 
appear and which does not impede the 
natural freedom and grace of movement 
is the most artistic and becoming. Tak- 
ing the human figure as the ground-work 
of dress, it is therefore of the first im- 
portance to preserve its proportions if 
they be correct. 

[13] 



BEAUTY 

What is really artistic always retains 
its hold on the public and good forms of 
dress, because they are becoming, are 
favorites and constantly return. No dress 
remained in fashion longer or returns 
oftener than the princess robe, which ex- 
actly follows artistic rules. 

A dress which fits more or less closely 
to the figure and reaches the feet in front 
with plain sleeves indicating the shape of 
the arm, should be the basis and founda- 
tion of all dress. This might be called 
the gown form. In most dresses it can 
take the place of the petticoat and hence 
do away with the skirt band. 

In speaking of a closely fitting, plain 
dress as being the basis of all costumes, it 
is not to be interpreted as meaning that 
every one should dress herself in this gar- 
ment and no other. As much variety may 
be obtained working from this basis as any 
change of fashion requires. As long as 
the principle of proportion is not lost sight 
of, each fresh costume may be equally 
charming. Any idea carried out with 
careful attention to true proportion and 

[14] 




Any lining material is suitable for a gown form. 

The so-called waist line should be more or less 

ignored in clothing for the greater beauty of the 
whole line. 



BEAUTY 

fitness will indicate the figure and clothe 
it gracefully. 

If the clothing has widened the form, 
we can restore the proportions through 
the manner of dressing the hair, by the 
hat, or for special occasion, by a train. 

What are known as polonaises, a sim- 
ple overdress with body and skirt in one, 
never quite go out of fashion. The coat 
known as Newmarket and long coats and 
jackets under a variety of names are re- 
tained for the same reason. In the same 
manner, the dress opening in front over 
a petticoat of some rich material or em- 
broidery, and either draped behind or 
falling in a sweeping train, is never out of 
fashion long. A short skirt with a dress 
draped over it, often returns to fashion and 
we are all familiar with it in the pictures 
of the best artists of all periods, some- 
times with a handkerchief or lace simply 
crossed over the breast or with bodice 
laced across the front. 

Ornament may be of two kinds; one a 
part of the dress used as trimming, which 
forms a finish to individual parts; the 

[15] 



BEAUTY 

other, something added to the garment for 
the sake of introducing harmony of color. 
In either case it should show that it is a 
part of the whole and that it fulfills some 
actual need. For example, a bow of rib- 
bon is often used for the purpose of intro- 
ducing color. It should always be used 
to finish or tie some portion of the dress. 
It should not be a made-up bow stuck on. 

Richard Hall says that no one but an 
artist can know how powerfully one small 
color accent can tell, especially in matter 
of contrast. A woman of unerring in- 
stinct for contrast and harmony in tones 
and hues can devise the most original and 
fascinating toilettes for herself. 

Ornament may be applied to empha- 
size the construction or to finish individ- 
ual parts. To illustrate : a certain amount 
of ornament or addition to the sleeve is 
permissible so long as it is in strict accord- 
ance with the natural shape of the arm 
and does not disturb the proportions. It 
must never show a want of meaning. It 
should always be "construction deco- 
rated," never "decoration constructed." 
[16] 




Summer gowns that are always beautiful. Half an 
artist's life is spent in learning what to look tor, 
how to distinguish the essential, the characteristic, 
and how to eliminate the rest." 



BEAUTY 

As we should avoid excrescent orna- 
ment, so we should have nothing flying or 
hanging loosely about. If ribbons are re- 
quired to tie something together, the ends 
should be long enough to do so effectively, 
but not to leave streamers to fly about in 
the wind. Castellated and all kinds of 
loose, flapping trimmings are unsuitable 
for they fulfill no reasonable purpose and 
distract and annoy the eye. 

Fringes, originally the raveling out 
and tying of the ends of material, can only 
hang truly in one position and are out of 
character on sleeves or other parts of the 
dress where they get turned upside down. 

A pleated edge is useful when needed 
to give more solidity. An embroidered 
border or flat trimming laid on is suit- 
able for drapery when it needs a finish. 
Embroidered trimming on a dress should 
be purely conventional in type and present 
no natural objects in relief. 

Joshua Reynolds says of a picture: 
"Disproportionate ordinance of parts is 
not right, because it cannot be true until 
it ceases to be a contradiction, to assert 

[17] 



BEAUTY 

that the parts have no relation to the 
whole." 

This is just as true of clothing as of 
a picture. In draping a dress or arrang- 
ing the fit of the skirt, all abrupt angles 
and meaningless excrescences should be 
avoided. Material bunched without re- 
gard to normal contour of the body or so 
as to destroy the relationship of the parts 
is inartistic because it gives a false im- 
pression. The so-called Grecian bend is 
an example. 

L. Higgins says: "The more one stud- 
ies the subject from books, and still more 
from the actual works of ancient Greece, 
one becomes convinced that writers like 
Hay are right in supposing that Greek 
art was the result of an intimate knowl- 
edge of the exact science of harmony, ap- 
plied to all the different expressions of 
art." 

It is said that the exquisite folds of 
the Greek himation (a garment consist- 
ing of a rectangular cloth draped over the 
left shoulder and about the body) , depend 
for their beauty on a certain well-known 
[18] 



BEAUTY 

proportion of the garment itself. Less 
or more or different proportions alter it 
and spoil its beauty. We may be quite 
certain that artistic drapery of all kinds 
depends equally on the true proportions 
of the garment to be draped. 

An imperfect figure maybe improved, 
however, by the manner in which orna- 
ment or drapery is applied to the dress. 
Drapery added to the dress should carry 
the idea of being a necessary portion of it, 
a part of the dress draped in fact, not a 
curtain or apron hung on and caught up 
here and there without meaning. It 
should also give the sense of security in 
its position and not appear to depend on 
stitches. It is claimed by those high in 
the art of dressmaking that the effect of 
a dress properly draped is practically the 
same to the eye as a long gown. That is 
to say, there is all the difference in the 
world between a plain short skirt stop- 
ping at the ankle or a little below it, and 
a dress which gives the idea that it is 
looped up for convenience and can be let 
down. This is practically the theory of 

[19] 



BEAUTY 

draped skirts, and for this reason they 
are more pleasing than short plain 
dresses. 

Artistic drapery of all kinds depends 
upon the true proportions of the garment 
to be draped. Art requires absolute 
truth. No sham or false appearance is 
permitted. Imitation drapery is always 
a sham and is never artistic. A true and 
self-reliant individuality in dress, based 
upon true rules of art, will produce a cos- 
tume at once suitable and becoming to 
the wearer. 

Among lovers of what is called artistic 
dress, there is a great admiration for 
drapery hanging from the shoulder. If 
it is beautiful it is because the lines of the 
drapery are in true proportion to the 
figure it clothes. There is no reason why 
beautiful lines should spring from the 
shoulder exclusively, although when they 
do so there is great charm about them. 
Neither is there anything intrinsically 
beautiful in stuffed paddings and slashes. 
They may be made picturesque where 
there are defects to hide and in some cases 

[20] 



BEAUTY 

they undoubtedly have a pleasing effect. 

To avoid disagreeable flapping in of 
the petticoats against the heels, some 
extra fullness of the skirt is required be- 
hind. This may be accomplished with- 
out breaking the line of beauty in the 
drapery. 

That material is best which receives 
and reflects the light softly from its sur- 
face, producing many gradations of tone; 
also soft materials which hang in grace- 
ful folds. No material is pleasing which 
stands stiffly out and forms inharmonious 
angles. The mixture of two materials 
will be found pleasing as giving variety 
and avoiding weight. Waists like the 
skirt and jacket in color, but of soft and 
fine material, are examples. 

Artistic effect, however, cannot be 
gained by piling alien materials, although 
beautiful in themselves in one meaning- 
less jangle. M. Worth regards it as 
sacrilege to mate lace and fur or two 
kinds of lace on one garment, or silk em- 
broidery and glittering jet. Here a dab 
of cloth, there one of velvet interspersed 

[21] 



BEAUTY 

with braid, fringe, tassels and fur, build 
up a motif as tawdry as it is pretentious, 
as vulgar as it is hideous. 

There is no difficulty about dressing 
a woman who has a beautiful figure. As 
a rule a woman so endowed knows it and 
is not fond of concealing her beauty by 
excrescent decoration, but rather falls a 
victim to questionable styles designed to 
reveal parts of the body. Young girls in 
the innocence of ignorance are very likely 
to do this. 

Artistic dressing concerns much more 
those whose figures are imperfect and 
who wish to dress becomingly. They 
must try to restore the proportions which 
nature points out as beautiful and be wise 
enough to follow their own style or clever 
enough to defeat or modify a style that is 
thrust upon them. 

A straight line across the base of the 
neck is very trying. It may be broken by 
a high, white collar, rolled over into an- 
other shape and so defeat the hardness of 
the straight line. Starched standing col- 
lars of linen, organdy or lace which do not 

[22] 



BEAUTY 

extend to the front of the dress, but end 
just in front of the ears, is not practical 
or becoming to all faces. In the choice 
of a collar a woman should not hesitate 
to give time and attention. It is only a 
detail but it makes or mars the harmony 
between the face and the frock. 

When a figure is too stout, the dress 
should be as long as possible, and when 
worn short for walking should be draped 
at the back but kept as flat as possible over 
the hips. The lines of ornament must 
flow downward, never by any means 
across the figure. The more the waist is 
compressed and the tighter the dress ap- 
pears to fit, the more the stoutness will be 
revealed. 

No dress is artistic which cuts the fig- 
ure in two either by coloring or by trim- 
ming. A conspicuous trimming around 
the hips would detract from the most 
beautiful figure and is disastrous to a 
stout or imperfect one. The same may 
be said of bands or flounces going around 
the skirt or across the front and of waists 
of a different color from the skirt. 

[23] 



BEAUTY 

Materials with design in spiral 
bunches may be made a very successful 
refiner of the bulky figure. Stripes, too, 
may be depended upon under the direc- 
tion of a clever cutter and fitter to induce 
symmetry. Chiffon, crepe de chine, mar- 
quissette, and all gauzes require very nice 
adjustment if the bulky are to wear them. 

Short, stout women should choose lines 
that give length from the shoulder down- 
ward. Anything that draws attention to 
the overplus of flesh which it is desirable 
to mitigate should be avoided. 

As to colors, black will be safe, biscuit 
deepening to tan may be used. This is a 
dye that does not intensify size and is 
therefore more useful as a glove and shoe 
color than gray. Green, too, of a color 
known as water-cress, may be suitable, 
and mauves and pearl shades are good. 

A woman with gray hair and whitened 
countenance may look beautiful in gray, 
touched with a little very good lace, even 
if her figure be not that of a sylph. 

Roughly speaking, white is for all 
ages and is suitable for every one. Mauve, 

[24] 




For the short, stout woman, waists and belts must be 
modeled with point back and front and the lines of 
ornament should flow downward. 



BEAUTY 

(a delicate purple), violet or lilac is for 
the very fair; blue for the brunette and 
red for the blond. Old women should 
never wear pink; it makes them look 
older. The woman with red hair must be 
very careful in selecting colors. This 
type will find by experimenting that 
some shades of blue are what they need 
and they may judiciously employ good 
browns or tan color. 

It is when different colors are com- 
bined in a costume that correct taste 
counts for most, for the result of such 
combination may be highly effective or 
disastrously jarring. 

Within the limits of art there is abund- 
ant scope for exercise of individual taste, 
and the more individual it is the better. Let 
all idiosyncrasies have their fullest license 
so long as they keep within the limits of 
art, but do not imagine that affected odd- 
ness is artistic when it has no beauty of 
form or color to recommend it. Har- 
monious or artistic dress cannot be real- 
ized without careful study of the figure, 
complexion and hair of each individual. 

[25] 



BEAUTY 

Art is art and its laws are equally ap- 
plicable to the painting of a picture, mod- 
elling of a statue, the construction or dec- 
oration of a building, or the clothing of 
the body. Let us lay aside all distinctions 
and look upon art as the tangible expres- 
sion of the science of beauty wherever we 
find it. Birge Harrison says about the 
framing of pictures: "Nothing in the 
whole range of nature is so admirably 
fitted for the surface of a frame as gold 
or metal leaf. Next to the mirror it pre- 
sents the most elusive of all surfaces. 
Semi-reflecting, semi-solid, it is just the 
thing that fills the requirements. 

"Fortunately there is a large range of 
colors at our disposal; beginning with 
pure silver and going through various 
tints of green, yellow and orange gold 
to the deep red of copper, again as ex- 
tended as the most demanding painter 
could ask. Here it soon becomes supreme. 
A picture whose dominant note was pink 
demanded a greenish gold frame, a blue 
picture called for a tone of pure yellow 
or orange gold, while a picture whose 

[26] 



BEAUTY 

dominant tone was golden yellow could 
only be well clothed in silver. Fortun- 
ately the dominant tone of most land- 
scapes is found in the blue or blue gray 
sky, and thus the pure gold frame is its 
ideal casing. But there are pictures, often 
enchanting effects, which are killed by the 
juxtaposition of yellow gold, and these 
pictures are barred out of our exhibitions 
by the barbaric rule which limits all 
frames to those of gold leaf." 

One picture referred to was his own, 
which represented the interior of a birch 
wood in autumn. It was a solid mass of 
shimmering yellow foliage, relieved only 
by the silvery notes of the slender and 
graceful trees. He says : "I tried it with- 
out success in every possible tone of gold 
leaf, but finally had to come to silver." 

When it comes to form and design the 
law of contrasts holds good also. 

"A very complicated picture which 
depends for its effects largely upon some 
graceful and intricate design will show 
to best advantage in a comparatively flat 
and simple frame. A simple picture, on 

[27] 



BEAUTY 

the contrary, which is built up with a few 
broad and powerful masses, will frequent- 
ly appear best in a rich and ornamental 
frame. The very richness of design ac- 
centuating the simple beauty of the can- 
vas. If, however, the value scale of a 
picture is extremely delicate, this must 
also be taken into account, and the frame, 
though ornamental in design, should be 
in low relief in order to harmonize with 
the picture which it is to frame. 

"The question of mat surface and bur- 
nished surface, or the proportion of each 
to be allowed in a given frame, must de- 
pend upon the individual taste of the 
painter. The worst frame of all, the only 
inexcusable one, is the blatant, vulgar, 
over-ornate, over-wide, over-burnished 
affair which cries out, 'Look at me ; I cost 
$500.00, so this picture must be worth 
$5,000.00.' " 

All of this might be said of dress, and 
suggests how difficult it is to lay down 
rigid rules in regard to color and style. 

Let the picture stand for the indi- 
vidual as to size, color, proportions, deli- 

[28] 



BEAUTY 

cacy or strength, the frame the clothing. 
"Just according to the beauty or indi- 
viduality of his temperament will be the 
beauty or the individuality of the artistic 
result," says Millet. "Technique should 
hide itself modestly behind the thing to 
be expressed." Therefore, the personal- 
ity and color scheme, when healthy, is to 
be made to stand out distinctly. Such a 
decoration of the body as calls attention 
to the clothes cannot be artistic any more 
than the over-ornate frame or the frame 
unsuited to the color scheme of the pic- 
ture. 

A sallow complexion can be made to 
look white in contrast with orange gold 
or orange, and if the eyes and hair are 
dark they will be strikingly prominent. 
This is also true of certain shades of red 
and blue. The exact hue can be deter- 
mined only by experiment. However, a 
person of sallow skin cannot use blue in- 
discriminately, whether she be blond or 
brunette. The blond, like the sallow- 
skinned brunette, must select that shade of 
red or blue that will mitigate the defect- 

[29] 



BEAUTY 

ive complexion and deepen the color of 
eyes and hair. 

About complexions, Louis F. Day 
says: "Broadly speaking, red and yellow 
predominate over blue. The tone of a 
good complexion is a very delicate pink- 
ish orange of the palest possible hue ap- 
proaching white. Complexions may be 
comparatively — 

i st — Pure white and red. 

2nd — Fair or tinged with pink. 

3rd — Dark or clear olive, with or 
without red." 

As suggested before, you must study 
yourself critically; your size, shape, color 
and age. Think of your clothes as the 
frame and subordinate them to your in- 
dividuality and physical peculiarities. 

Ruskin says : "The least appearance of 
extravagance or want of moderation or 
restraint, is destructive of all beauty what- 
soever, in anything, color, form, motion, 
language or thought; giving rise to that 
which is in color called glaring, in form in- 
elegant, in motion ungraceful, in thought 
undisciplined, in all, unchastened." 

[30] 




Nothing is so glaring as the latest novelty. Ear- 
rings are a relic of barbarism and chains that serve 



no purpose should be avoided. 



BEAUTY 

"The Frenchwoman is consistent," 
says M, Worth. "She never spends her 
little on a frock, or hat, vaguely leaving 
her gloves, neckwear and shoes to take 
care of themselves. She builds herself 
up from the beginning by means of well- 
fitting, daintily made lingerie. 

"Let us suppose there is very little 
money in the purse. The girl cannot af- 
ford to pay high prices for clothes nor 
seek expert advice upon the subject of 
color, styles and trimming. In order to 
dress well she must foster the critical 
habit. She must not forget her defects 
and congratulate herself that the good 
points will mask the effect of the bad ones. 
To illustrate: The girl whose hair is the 
color of ripe corn and whose complexion 
rivals the lily and rose, may have a waist 
circumference that is altogether clumsy 
and awkward. Is such a one to chose 
colors that throw up the radiance of her 
hair and establish the already evident ex- 
cellence of her fair skin? By no means. 
She must be governed in choice of ma- 
terials by that thick waist. She must per- 

[31] 



BEAUTY 

sistently endeavor to induce all the sym- 
metry of figure she can achieve through 
every means open to her in the gymnas- 
ium. Moreover, she must wear black in 
preference to color. Her waists and belts 
must be modeled with point back and 
front to give length." 

M. Worth also tells us that the best 
dressed woman in Paris never buys over 
three dresses a year. They are, however, 
perfect in fit, in material, in taste. Yet 
remember this — she is not the type at 
whom everyone in the street will stare. 
There is real distinction in her appear- 
ance, and the secret of it is simplicity 
rather than the crude straining after 
effect. 

Even an employee who is earning the 
most modest income may have in her 
wardrobe all that her business or social 
duties call for, and its items will be at 
once individual and fitting the occasion. 
One year she may add to her store a sim- 
ple evening gown and a tailor-made 
dress; the next she will find occasion to 
buy one afternoon gown and perhaps a 

[32] 



BEAUTY 

big cloak suitable for steamer or railroad 
traveling, and the third she may make ad- 
ditions to her lingerie. 

"The women of true refinement," says 
M. Worth, "such as I dress, will not wear 
a cloak or toilette that draws attention to 
her; but such as will mark herself that 
all who runs may read a charming woman 
by her quiet attire and exquisite sim- 
plicity of design. It is true the materials 
are fine and the gown fits perfectly, but 
all the effect is entirely unostentatious. 
These women would not consent to attend 
any social function half clothed, with 
sleeves cut low beneath the arm and cor- 
sage only an apology for what it should 
be." 

The writer has a dress she bought five 
years ago. It is princess in style, con- 
servative in outline and contains twice the 
material the extreme fashion calls for.* It 
was not designed for common street wear, 
yet with a simple wrap can be worn there 
without attracting notice. Every year 
there has been occasion to wear it at re- 

* This refers to fashions of 1914. 

[33] 



BEAUTY 

ception, dinner or for platform work. 
She has always felt well dressed among, 
those who dress the best. Not the slight- 
est change or repair has been made in that 
time. And because it is not freakish in 
outline and fulfills every law of art, it will 
always be in style. As it begins to show 
signs of wear it may be altered slightly, 
possibly new sleeves or some such change 
to bring it up to date. So when I read 
from artists high in authority like M. 
Worth that, in excellence of material, sim- 
plicity of design and conservatism in 
fashions lies the secret of his art, I am 
assured that one may safely follow him. 
These three phrases, when thoroughly un- 
derstood, will mean the solution of the 
dress problem in the narrow sense of 
outer clothing, — excellence of material, 
simplicity of design, conservative fash- 
ions. It means careful buying, propriety 
of outline in the selection of styles, be- 
cause you are going to get your money's 
worth. But it means still more. It means 
that some fashion-maker and manufac- 
turer will arise, big enough, and confident 

[34] 




To be conspicuously elegant presupposes a cultivated 
body. But the secret of economy and art in dress 
lies in the selection of suitable materials, simple de- 
signs and conservative fashions. 



BEAUTY 

enough in the perfection of his manu- 
factured articles to do for women what is 
already done for men. 

When proper emphasis is placed upon 
the physical education of the adolescent 
girl and a system of under-dressing is de- 
veloped that clothes but does not attempt 
to reshape the body, then the buoyancy of 
youth may survive the perils of mother- 
hood and extend definitely to the period 
of life when intelligence, coupled with 
experience, counts for so much. 

We are not to ignore fashion and go 
about to construct strange garments of our 
own invention. I believe more is lost than 
gained by eccentricity in these matters, 
but as there is generally some reasonable 
idea at the foundation of a prevailing 
style, it seems better to seek for and carry 
that out instead of exaggerating and help- 
ing to spread abroad its worst features. 

M. Worth tells of the astonishment of 
the gayly plumaged on meeting for the 
first time women of exalted rank. Where 
they expected to see the latest fashions in 
overwhelming profusion, they saw not 

[35] 



BEAUTY 

one. Because he says those who design 
gowns for women of such rank adhere to 
restraint rather than exaggeration. He 
advises American girls to adjure the lat- 
est thing. "It is not worth your notice. 
Robe yourself prettily, tastefully, in keep- 
ing with your position and the occasion 
and wear good clothes. That is enough." 

Forty years ago his father brought in 
vogue the princess dress and he makes it 
to-day and advises under all circumstances 
simplicity, and individuality in dress. 
Given good taste and a little tact he as- 
sures us that every woman may be well 
dressed, even if she be poor. 

Be always sure that danger lies for 
every one, whether blond or brunette, 
tall or short, thin or the reverse, in such 
vagaries of the mode as the balloon sleeve, 
the eel-tight and slit skirt, for in all ex- 
aggeration there is danger; while modest 
restraint and swift intuition as to indi- 
vidual suitability mean a victory in subtle 
charm which the vulgar can never attain. 

The development of a right system of 
clothing the body is an educational prob- 

[36] 



BEAUTY 

lem, and the fundamental step is the de- 
signing of under-garments for the adoles- 
cent girl that her physical education may 
be effective. 

When muscles have lost their power 
to hold the body strongly erect without 
conscious effort, artificial devices for sup- 
porting prolapsed internal organs are a 
blessing when designed on strictly scien- 
tific principles. But artificial devices for 
remolding the body are a menace to the 
race in undermining the health. Nor 
should artificial devices constructed for 
pathological conditions be accepted as 
models for the normal and adolescent. 



[37] 



ETHICS 

Beautiful dress is chiefly beautiful 
in color — in harmony of parts — 
and in mode of putting on and 
wearing. Rightness of mind is in 
nothing more shown than in the 
mode of wearing simple dress. — 
John Ruskin 



ETHICS 

THE folly of woman's dress lies 
not in her instinct to make 
herself beautiful, but in her 
ignorance of the principles of 
beauty; in her ignorance of the intimate 
and essential connection between utility 
and beauty or the beauty of use; in the 
pitiful assumption that she can achieve 
her end by imitation. 

The matter of dress is important be- 
cause bound up with it is a great number 
of social and economic problems. It is 
part and parcel of the problem of the 
cost of living, of woman's wages, of waste- 
ful industries, of the social evil itself. It 
is woman's direct weapon against bad 
fashions, industrial abuses and her all- 
powerful weapon as a consumer. 

In a recent publication on "The 
Woman Who Spends," Ellen Richard 
says: "Social economics is pre-eminently 
a woman's problem, especially if Mun- 
sterburg's assertion is widely true that in 
America it is the women who have the 
leisure and cultivation to direct the de- 

[41] 



ETHICS 

velopment of social conditions." The 
very heart of the question of dress is then 
economic. It is one of the great every- 
day matters on which the moral and phy- 
sical well-being of society rests, one of 
those matters which rightly understood 
fills the every-day life with big meaning 
and shows it related to every great move- 
ment for the betterment of mankind. 

If man's special service to mankind is 
to make life possible through the over- 
coming of nature, a woman's peculiar 
service is to make life worth while. Since 
the evolution of the mother she has always 
been the guardian of the young, the in- 
spiration of man, and the director of 
spiritual influences. Her place in educa- 
tion as teacher, artist, physician, admits 
of her extending her influence and culture 
to large numbers in a measure never 
dreamed of hitherto. 

To teach effectively, however, one 
must become as imitable as possible as 
imitation and emulation play absolutely 
vital parts. Mr. William James says: 
"The entire accumulated wealth of man- 

[42] 




The shoulders are made to appear broader than 
hips; the waist, which should be 96.5 per cent of the 
height, is out of proportion. Compare this with 
natural outline on page 44. 



the 



ETHICS 

kind is passed on from one generation to 
the next by what is called social heredity, 
each generation simply imitating the last. 
This is why we do the things prescribed 
by fashion. We do not wish to be lonely 
or eccentric, and we wish not to be cut off 
from our share in things which to our 
neighbors seem desirable." Even force of 
habit gives way when society settles a 
question of propriety, and this is especial- 
ly true of dress. 

We become conscious of what we are 
ourselves by imitating others. To possess 
things worth imitating or to make herself 
imitable in a high degree is the duty of 
a woman of taste. It is a part of her 
economic function. Every woman who 
contributes better standards of dress, food, 
home and habits for others to imitate is 
adding to the economic prosperity of the 
nation, to say nothing of its health and 
happiness. If the women with whom you 
associate dress with good taste economic- 
ally, healthfully, artistically, such dress is 
also ethical and worthy of imitation. It 
is protective imitation because it will add 

[43] 



ETHICS 

strength to individual development. It 
is also sympathetic imitation that will 
move the whole community a step farther 
along in the way of progress. 

The highest office of the body is the 
expression of spiritual life; a study of it 
therefore, teaches one to respect it. It 
does not induce a wish to ignore its lines 
in clothing it, to contradict its propor- 
tions, or misrepresent its character. 

To look well in one's clothes depends 
largely upon poise and carriage of the 
body. Woman's life, because of mother- 
hood, is peculiarly physical, and her edu- 
cation should follow such lines as will 
render this function less hazardous and 
place her in possession of the knowledge 
of how to preserve the strength, grace and 
contour of her body. If the eccentricities 
of fashion were but devices to "conceal 
and supplement nature" without injury 
to her health or morals, the problem 
would then be the interpretation of beauty 
in relation to health. 

A perfect dress should be accessory, 
having little value in itself, covering what 

[44] 




The charm of a woman's form is in the long curve 
from armpit to ankle. The depression at the so- 
called waist line is the meeting of two large muscles. 



ETHICS 

it does not conceal and calling attention 
to that which it embellishes. A woman 
not positively deformed, w T ith poise and 
suppleness of body, can afford to ignore 
the eccentricities of fashion, because like 
a queen who has the air of one, she has 
the good taste to dispense with her decora- 
tions. 

The awakened consciousness of Ameri- 
can educators with reference to education 
for efficiency gives promise of a better 
understanding of woman's needs educa- 
tionally. Dr. P. P. Claxton, U. S. Com- 
missioner of Education at the last meeting 
of the National Educational Association, 
July, 19 14, said: "What the schools to- 
day believe to be right will be enacted 
into law in the next generation." Medi- 
cal inspection of schools is helping to 
solve many hitherto obscure problems. 

But this matter of dress is a woman's 
problem. More and more the American 
woman must give two impressions: one 
of style, the other of individuality. When 
she combines these two features with that 
judgment that comes from thought and 

[45] 



ETHICS 

study, there will be a union of the best 
that is fashionable and personal. To meet 
this demand there will be created dis- 
tinctive American styles of dress which 
must in a high degree be ethical and 
healthful to be in keeping with the 
thoughtfulness, the culture and the inde- 
pendence of American women. 



[46] 



APPENDIX 



The PATRICIA GARMENT 

In his remarkable work on "Ado- 
lescence," Dr. Stanley Hall points 
out what he regards as the essen- 
tials of education. "The health of 
woman is if possible even more im- 
portant for the welfare of the race 
than that of man and the influence 
of her body upon her mind is in a 
sense, greater, so that its needs 
should be supreme and primary." 
. . . "Bathing in moderation and 
especially dress and toilet should be 
almost raised to fine arts and objects 
of constant suggestion." 



The PATRICIA GARMENT 

THE Patricia garment, which 
was patented Dec. 15, 19 14, is 
my solution of the problem of 
underclothing, for the adoles- 
cent. It is a corset substitute, and will 
meet .the needs of all who enjoy physical 
freedom. It is a four-in-one garment 
which combines the necessary support for 
the bust and clothing with room for 
growth and development of the torso. It 
reveals the subtle lines which the stiffness 
of the corset conceals. The combination 
of several garments in one eliminates the 
need of bands. The construction is such 
as to make laundering easy. The con- 
struction of the upper part, which in ef- 
fect is a brassiere, also provides for sani- 
tary bust forms. This garment is particu- 
larly adapted for use in warm weather. 
It can be worn next to the body with or 
without knitted underwear and allows the 
air to reach the entire body. 

The muslin princess slip, a model gar- 
ment, is not always desirable. When not 
especially needed, or if a colored skirt 

[51] 



THE PATRICIA GARMENT 
is required, it should be adjusted and 
held in place by a circular band. They 
are the only bands that do not bind. But 
bands may be entirely dispensed with 
by cutting skirts with the proper curve 
at the waist line, where they are adjusted 
by linen-covered snap fasteners. For ex- 
tra warmth the upper part of the skirt 
may be made of woolen material. From 
its lower edge any suitable material may 
be used to increase the length — silk or 
less expensive bengaline or cotton. 

One skirt over the Patricia garment 
will supply all necessary drapery for the 
figure ; its thickness should be determined 
by the weight or transparency of the 
dress. 

Any over-lapping of the clothing de- 
stroys symmetry and proportion. It must 
be constantly borne in mind that to pre- 
serve the outline of the figure the cloth- 
ing must be evenly distributed. If a 
slender appearance is desired, keep the 
clothing smooth and thin over the hips. 

It is unnecessary to say anything in 
behalf of knitted combination undergar- 

[52] 



THE PATRICIA GARMENT 
ments since they have become popular. 
When introduced they were thought to be 
inconvenient and objectionable for many 
reasons, but time has proven they are the 
reverse. 

The pendulum of fashion now swings 
to the opposite extreme in skirt propor- 
tions. They are both short and wide. 
This throws last year's garments out of 
commission, which is a misfortune to 
those who must count the cost of living. 
A word to the wise is sufficient — exercise 
restraint and never buy extreme styles. 



[533 




The Patricia Garment. The essential characteristics 
of healthy and artistic undergarments for the ado- 
lescent are support for the bust and freedom for every 
muscle of the body. 



Here end The Art and Ethics 
of Dress, as related to efficiency 
and economy, by Eva Olney Farm- 
worth, with illustrations and decora- 
tions by Audley B. Wells. Pub- 
lished by Paul Elder and Company 
at their To mo ye Press, at San Fran- 
cisco, and seen through the press 
by John Swart in the month of 
April, nineteen hundred and fifteen. 



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